Allah is More Merciful to You than Your Own Parents

Hammad Ibn Salama visited Sufyan Athawri (d.161 AH, a great and pious scholar and a student of the Tabi’een). Sufyan asked him,

‎يا أبا سَلَمَةَ أتَرى اللَّه يَغْفِرُ لِمِثْلِي؟

“O Abu Salama, do you think that Allah will forgive someone like myself?”

‎واللَّهِ لَوْ خُيِّرْتُ بَيْنَ مُحاسَبَةِ اللَّهِ إيّايَ وبَيْنَ مُحاسَبَةِ أبَوَيَّ، لاخْتَرْتُ مُحاسَبَةَ اللَّهِ عَلى مُحاسَبَةِ أبَوَيَّ، وذَلِكَ أنَّ اللَّهَ أرْحَمُ بِي مِن أبَوَيَّ

Hammad replied, “I swear by Allah if I was given the choice to be held to account by Allah or by my parents, I would choose for Allah to hold me to account over my parents. That is because Allah is more merciful to me than my parents.”

(Sharh As-Sunnah by Baghawi)

When you truly know Allah and His names and attributes, you know that His mercy encompasses you and surrounds you from all angles. Truly knowing Allah means you have good thoughts about Him and know that He is more merciful to you than your own parents and He only wants the best for you. This instills hope and love in Allah in your heart and drives away bad and pessimistic thoughts about Allah:

من عرف سعة رحمة الله كان حاله الرجاء

“Whoever knows how vast Allah’s mercy is, will find himself full of hope.”

— Al-Izz Ibn Abdel-Salam

(Mukhtasar Al-Fawaid)